Subtle R Errors

March 15, 2015 2:02 am Published by

If you use my techniques for /r/, you might have immediate success. However, there are 3 subtle things that often go wrong. The first relates to stabilization of the sides of the tongue against the back molars. One of the reasons I start teacher /r/ with EE in front (i.e., EERGA) is that the tongue stays wide for EE. This helps keep the tongue stabilized on the molars by keeping it wide. Because this /r/ is visible (using a flashlight), you can observe if the student is keeping the tongue on the molars as they say EERGA. This is critical as if there is no stabilization, there will not be the necessary constriction to get the /r/ sound.
Another subtle problem has to do with the height of the dorsum (mid-tongue area). Often students are doing everything correct except the dorsum is not high enough to get the /r/ sound. To remedy this, I will put an applicator stick with a cotton tip midway between the hard and soft palate. Using a mirror and flashlight, ask the student to touch the cotton ball with the dorsum. Typically they don’t get the tongue high enough to touch it but the effort to raise the dorsum higher than usual leads to a correct /r/ sound. There should be discussion about why they got a good /r/ after doing this. Another technique to raise the dorsum involves making the tongue bunchy and sliding it back and forth keeping it as high as possible.
I used to have a bunch of /r/ kids who I referred to as my “lifers”. I was not making adequate progress with them and careful examination revealed that they all had subtle problems with jaw stabilization. When I got them to stabilize their jaws consistently, they got it! I used infant tongue depressors as well as a mirror when they were removed to emphasize the consistent jaw stabilization.
Stephen Sacks SATPAC Speech
Upcoming workshops will be in Sacramento and San Jose at the end of April and Kansas City and St. Louis in October. Go to www.satpac.com to see the specifics as they will be posted soon.